Miracle-Ear Foundation Better Serves Hearing Impaired

The Miracle-Ear Children’s Foundation has been transformed to the Miracle-Ear Foundation in an effort to further empower underserved Americans with hearing loss. Through its new strategy and framework, the nonprofit will extend its reach to underprivileged children and adults with hearing loss, enhancing people’s life experiences through the gift of sound.

Started in 1990, by Miracle-Ear founder, Ken Dalhberg, the Foundation met the ever increasing needs of under-privileged children’s hearing health care. The Miracle-Ear Children’s Foundation donated more than 6,500 hearing aids to over 4,100 children nationwide. “The Miracle-Ear Children’s Foundation, working in cooperation with Miracle-Ear centers, has impacted many communities across America,” said Jenni Hargraves Miracle-Ear Foundation Director. “But after further analyzing the environment, we found there’s an even greater need to help children and adults alike, so that has driven the change.”

With the launch of the Miracle-Ear Foundation comes an updated hearing aid program, Gift of Sound. This program serves both children and adults with hearing loss that have limited income and have exhausted all resources to improve their hearing health. Individuals who meet specific income and hearing loss requirements can work with any one of the 1,200 locations nationwide to receive hearing aids free of cost. 

The re-launched Foundation also invites potential donors to become Miracle Heroes, by contributing a tax-deductible gift that will enhance lives of people within their local communities.

The Foundation also has a new identity system. Its new logo is meant to complement the existing teal Miracle-Ear logo, while keeping it an identity of its own. Employing the same font as the old logo, the new symbol also includes a bridge icon. The icon represents helping the hearing impaired across the country.

To learn more about the Miracle-Ear foundation, eligibility requirements, or to become a Miracle Hero visit www.miracle-earfoundation.org.

Laurie Lang Joins Project Angel Food as CEO

Project Angel Food named Laurie Lang as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1.

“Project Angel Food has been a tireless championof vital nourishment and hope throughout Los Angeles County for nearly 25 years, and I welcome the opportunity to help set its vision for the future,” said Lang. “With ‘food as medicine’ a tenet of the agency’s work, I look forward to further communicating the key role that nutrition plays in better health – and the impact that Project Angel Food is having on people struggling with life-threatening illnesses throughout our community. I commit to our supporters, volunteers, local leaders and, most importantly, those individuals to whom we provide an essential life-saving service that I will work to ensure Project Angel Food honors our long-standing mantra of ‘for Life, for Love, for as long as it takes.’” 

Before joining Project Angel Food, Lang served as president for BrandCentrics Consulting, as senior vice president of Strategic Marketing for The Walt Disney Company, and as executive director for Disney’s “Disney Learning Partnership” program, which involved the management of a $20 million philanthropic portfolio to support the nation’s teachers and schools. Most recently, she served as associate vice president for Marketing and Communications at The Music Center, where she developed and implemented a comprehensive rebranding strategy to revitalize the center. Lang has a graduate degree in Business Administration from Columbia University and an undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

In addition to her professional experiences, Lang has served on the nonprofit boards of Free Arts for Abused Children and Virginia Avenue Project, and has lent her support to The Philanthropic Initiative, LA Universal Preschool Initiative, The Afterschool Alliance, and others as a valued leader.

“With her breadth of experience, Laurie Lang is the ideal person to oversee the growth and increased impact of Project Angel Food,” said Project Angel Food’s chairman of the Board of Directors, Robert Bauer. “With her creative and strategic thinking, the Board and staff are excited about working with Laurie to ensure Project Angel Food continues to provide life-sustaining nourishment to some of the most vulnerable members of our community – and to explore ways that we could be of even greater service to those in need.”

“The Greater Los Angeles community is well-aware that we provide meal services to people struggling with HIV/AIDS, but what might surprise many is that more than 18% of our clients today are battling some form of cancer, more than 15% of our clients are at end stage renal disease, or that more than 5% of our clients are inflicted with emphysema, and more than 7% have congestive heart failure,” said Bauer. “Over our 24 years of service, we have expanded our service to the people of Los Angeles County and, with Laurie at the helm, will continue to explore ways that we can further contribute to a healthy and vibrant community.”

Project Angel Food cooks and delivers 600,000 nutritious meals each year, free of charge, to the homes of men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. In 2013, 2,200 people, ranging in age from 16 to 97, will receive service, with 30% Hispanic, 30% African-American, and 30% Caucasian. Women represent 42% of all those who receive service.  Every year, more than 3,500 individuals volunteer at Project Angel Food, contributing 42,000 hours to all aspects of the agency’s work.

Lang assumes the post from Margaret Steele, who has led Project Angel Food for the past five years and oversaw the launch of social enterprise initiatives, increased financial stability, grew the involvement of students in the volunteer program, and expanded service in the broader health community. Steele is departing to spend more time with her teenage children and will have worked closely with Lang to ensure a smooth transition.